Pueblo casino plan
Re: “Voters deserve say on gambling,” Aug. 24 editorial.
I disagree with your editorial saying that state voters deserve a say on gambling for a proposed Indian casino in Pueblo. If you had written southern Colorado voters deserve a say, that would be fine. Pueblo has, for many years, received the short end of the stick from northern Colorado voters, including Denver. That is also true for the northern Colorado-dominated legislature. Let us decide; it is our city.
Fred Jacobs, Pueblo
Cigarette taxes
Re: “Feeling new tax’s burn,” Aug. 25 news story.
Of all the vices, cigarette smoking astounds me the most. One can understand the immediate enjoyment of the vice of alcohol or illegal drugs, but what about smoking that first pack of cigarettes? What drives it? When I was teen, it was peer pressure and constant advertising. But that pressure seems removed today. So why are there so many new and current smokers supporting the government-supported tobacco industry?
This phenomenon seems to go to the story in The Post on the loss of revenue from the increased tax on cigarettes in the state. Bemoaning a loss of revenue sounds reasonable for a local government, but shouldn’t the tradeoff be a plus for society? Isn’t that the objective for the billions in revenue from the lawsuits filed by government against Big Tobacco, to account for the “cost to society” of promoting cigarette smoking? If the “sin tax” is going down, is it possible that so is the “sin?”
Keith Francis, Morrison
Lisl Auman case
Re: “Auman apologizes to all,” Aug. 23 news story.
Well, the deal’s done and Lisl Auman will soon be out of prison. I can’t help wondering, though, how much of the prosecutors’ willingness to deal, and Anna VanderJagt’s last-minute change of heart, came from the realization that another jury trial would probably end in acquittal. By now, too many people understand the lies and distortions that helped to convict Auman seven years ago. Too many people have had time to ponder juror Linda Chin’s belated realization: that we all make mistakes which could potentially spiral out of our control. Chin could have been a hero in 1998 by holding out against the other jurors, who were in favor of convicting Auman of felony murder. Instead she gave in and thereby doomed Auman to an unjust verdict and a vindictive sentence.
But, the deal’s done. Auman will soon be out. And that’s what counts.
A.J. Hill, Nederland
Synchronized signals
A considerable amount of gas is being unnecessarily wasted because of poor signal synchronization. Recently, I was traveling north on Washington Street between 84th and 120th avenues, in the north metro area, and was stopped by red light at every signal except one.
Most of the stops were because of little-used cross streets. When one car comes to a main street on a cross street and it has been awhile since the last car, the signal immediately turns green for them; it doesn’t matter if as many as 20 cars have to stop on the main street. Vehicles achieve about 0 miles per gallon during the acceleration period to get up to speed after a stop.
If the cross-street car waited until the bulk of main street cars went through, less gas would be used because the main-street cars wouldn’t have to stop and restart.
Hey, Denver-area jurisdictions: How about fine-tuning your signal synchronization software?
Frank de Vall, Boulder
